Unalloyed Problems

Jazuhanzu
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Jazz has finally prepared all she can.

Bartered a vessel to take them to a spot off the coast of Westland, enough supplies to survive a few days in the desert, and then return to the shore where the vessel will be waiting for them, a mule to help *carry* said supplies and survive the heat. It's enough for everything she undestands that this is going to involve. And, of course, a map of the way to the mine drawn by one of the Lander workers who SAYS the yused to work there, but who knows how true that is with everything as messed up as it is.

Jazz was mostly quiet on the way there, and mostly quiet on disembarking. She unfurls her map, checks it, eyes the donkey, and then begins to head right in the appropriate direction. One would assume it is, anyway. It's going to be a long few days if the heat is anything to go by.
Pela Clarpuff
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     And she brought allies to help with the trip! Among them is Pela, who is mostly there to help out with combat and... well. Cooking. Yeah. Pela ... begins to set up camp immediately, if it's still daytime out. Which might be a bit mystifying. "...Do not travel in the day." She finally says towards Jazuhanzu. "...It is dangerous. Better to rest during the day, travel at night when it's cool."
Atif
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    Somehow, among the allies that came along (or friends, as one of them prefers to say...), is one (1) red-haired Salamander. Westelande is technically hometurf for salamanders afterall, right?

    And in spite of the danger associated with the desert, Atif seems all too happy to be here with everyone, too. Because of course he is. All smiles, in spite of the evil sun shining down upon him and his friends, with his usual scarf now wrapped around his head as an improvised hood. "It's going to be *really* cold during the night," he points out, to Pela's suggestion. "...I also worry about us sweating too much while we sleep if we do it at day."
Uta
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    Uta looks between Pela, Atif and Jazz. She does not say anything at the moment, but knows that Jazz usually works at a different level and has Reasons, with a capital R and a trademark sign appended for doing things, and since objections have already been raised, there is no need to do so further. So she quietly waits to hear what Jazz will reply.

    "...Oh, good thing you mentioned that," she says to Pela and Atif. "Gwen told me the weather was going to be rough, and that I needed to dress appropriately for the trip. Or did she say something more like 'It's dangerous to go alone! Take this?' It's all a blur, really. Point is, she gave me a parcel for the trip and I had completely forgotten until now..."

    She swipes through her inventory, and selects the option to equip an item.

    Her iconic gi/nurse's uniform shimmers, soon replaced by what looks like a (tame version of, to be fair) traditional depiction of a harem girl's outfit in popular media: lilac bustier, lilac poofy pants, and lilac gloves that reach almost up to her shoulder, but leave it bare; a blue bra, a large multi-draped sash of the same color (but with golden embroidery) tied around her hips, and held in place with a large brooch, large, golden, round, the large part of the volume taken up by a green gem, golden shoes with elaborately intricate fastening (and buckles which match the hip-brooch exactly, only scaled down). To complete the whole thing, golden jewlery around her neck and the proximal end of the gloves.

    Uta looks down to take stock of what she has equipped, exactly and...

    ...there is a moment of stunned silence.
Jazuhanzu
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"No in view of the coast, Pela," calls Jazz over her shoulder. "This is a traffic lane. There's Sahagan in the water, or whatever they're calling themselves these days. You don't want to camp in view of the coast. There's some dunes and crags up that way," she points off the beach they're on, "so we'll be heading over there. Then we'll make camp and wait until nightfall. It'll be uncomfortable, but at least we'll have some shade and not be sitting ducks if the worst should happen."

She shrugs her shoulders, casting a glance over her shoulder to ensure thatq the others are following as she head away from the beach.
Pela Clarpuff
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     "...You're correct about it getting cold at night. ... But I still say we don't travel past late morning until late evening. It's dangerous to travel during the middle of the day." Pela does take down what she'd started of setting up the camp. They could continue for a while still probably... she had just been being cautious. Extra cautious, even. Also... Uta gets dressed.

     In a harem outfit. Pela tilts her head a moment and then murmurs. "...It will definitely... not make you too hot. I guess." She shakes her head a little with an amused look on her face, pulling the cloak she'd acquired for this around her a bit more effectively, her hood up and forward to shade her face from the sun. The comments from Jazuhanzu gets a small nod.

     "...Right, you guys can't just pop stealth and hide..." She mumbles to herself, continuing after Jazuhanzu quietly. Ugh. Working with others is so different from playing solo sometimes. Still, they /did/ have some points.
Atif
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    "So travel until we find suitable campsite then, seems like the plan?" Atif nods his head firmly a few times over, with this. "As long as we have water supplies we should be fine, I think. Yeah?"

    He's all ready to get going in tandem with Jazz and Pela, but, he pauses to look at Uta when she makes some in-field costume changes. He's excited enough to see the new outfit, too, you know?

    ...And then he actually sees it.

    The redhead lizard pauses in place completely, giving a good, long, bemused stare at the spriggan... before he snaps his face very much *away* from Uta, choosing to face to the decided direction of travel. "...It will work..." is all he murmurs, right after Pela's comment, while he tugs at the cloth wrapped around his head. Definitely not for the sole purpose of hiding his face for a moment. Nope. Definitely not.
Uta
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    Uta has no scarf to hide the blushing, but her face says it all. "...I trust it will, I'm sure Gwen knows what she's doing..." is what she says, sounding pretty embarrassed herself. Probably not to make things too hard for Atif, she walks behind him... or rather, at the back of the group. "Travel until we find a campsite is a great plan. I like it. And if we run out of water... well, I suppose we will contribute to science by finding out if healing potions can be used in its place."

    "...what are Sahagan?", she finally asks Jazz, as if she had realized this until now.
Jazuhanzu
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Jazz didn't even notice.

Seriously, it's not until they're at the rocky crags and setting up camp out of view of the coastline that she just kind of stares at Ura for a moment and then shakes her heada slowly without a comment.

"We're not going to run out of water unless we have a an absolute navigational disaster which I don't forsee."

Camp will be set, and it will pass into night in relative silence, with Jazz sketching the immediatea area with ink and quill. She's not half bad at landscapes.
Pela Clarpuff
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     Pela ... gives a small nod towards Atif. "Yes. It is a reasonable plan and... an outfit that will work." Pela seems a little bemused towards /him/ too. As he tries to hide his face a little she shakes her head with an amused look on her face. She takes a deep breath at the question of Sahagan. "...Fishmen." She says as a simple explanation. "Aggressive." She adds.

     "...And if we run out of water, I have juice. ...Though prefer not to use it. It is... not perfected." She murmurs. Mostly because she's not used to working with pure sugarcane, which is different from actual sugar.

     After camp is set, Pela goes about making a simple, but nutritious meal. It's not gourmet food. But what is, when traveling?
Atif
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    Eventually, Atif does loosen the scarf from around his face. Though suspiciously, he doesn't look in Uta's direction a great deal, for a good file.

    When the time comes for making camp, Atif... well, Atif gets to helping with the menial tasks, at least, and he gives a wry smile to Jazz's way. "I'm trusting you with that, then! I am... a garbage scout. My plan for getting there was 'follow Jazu-san' from the start, so!"

    Is that something you should sound so happy about, Atif?

    Either way, after camp proper is set, he'll use magic to help set up fire for the purposes of Pela's foodmaking, if required. WHich... might have just been served by placing the food on a metal plate while the sun is still up, but...
Uta
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"Aggressive fish-men. Noted." Uta spaces out for a bit at Pela's words, probably lost into one of her unorthodox tangents, until she lands back on Earth to ask, point blank, "...when they go back home after a raid on adventurers, do you think they boast about how large a prey 'the one that got away' would have been?"

    "...hopefully it is not /cactus/ juice. Never tried it myself, but the stuff is nasty."

    "You mean you are good at scouting for garbage? That's a pretty useful skill," she says, without the slightest hint of sarcasm. "It can be used for composting, it might contain combustibles, will make a nice fertilizer if we find ourselves facing a gardening emergency..." In the desert. She seems oblivious to this. "See, how many skills are available that I did not even know about!" The point is, that, too busy following her derailed train of thought, she didn't realized she defaulted to try and facing Atif, as on would do during conversation in normal circumstances.

    But look! A momentary distraction! Uta finally notices Jazz's sketching, and observes it for a few moments. "...that is pretty good. Can you also draw portraits?"
Jazuhanzu
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"We're not going to run out of water unless things go really wrong. And thne we're by the coast. So even if we *do* run out of water, we're by the coast. I'm fairly sure I can figurre out how to conjured fresh water. Sea-witch, remember? The barrels of water are just because I don't want to rely on magic if I don't have to."

She reaches up and pats the donkey. "Isn't that right, stupid?"

The beast o' burden they brought with them, the ostensible 'donkey', as JAzz calls it, makes grunty animal sounds.

She leans back against a rock, tips her hat down over her face, and starts to get some rest.
Atif
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    "Uh..."

    THere's a very confusing string in Atif's head, while his brain tries to play catch up and decide on what exact kind of reaction it should form up in response to Uta. Trying to battle between bemusement over the... somewhat confusing words taht are coming out of the Spriggan's mouth, and... well, a blush, because she is facing him in his visual spectrum, and probably close for conversational purposes.

    "I, uh, er--" Is initially all he manages to get out, stumbling over words that were originally meant to come out as some form of reasonable explanation along the lines of "No, Uta, that is not what I meant, it was a figure of speech". And it's only after he turns away again, to ostensibly focus on ensuring that one of the tentside poles is secure, when actual wods come out.

    "... T-...that's a good point, Uta..."

    There was an Attempt(tm).

    He does, however, get a peek in at Jazz giving a pat to the beast of burden. He even considers the Undine for a few seconds... and then, a small smile flickers over his features.

    He's wise enough not to call her out on anything, though.
Uta
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    "Thanks, Atif!", says Uta with a smile, apparently pleased at having had her comment confirmed. "There's a lot we stil have to learn about this world, but one thing I am sure of: one should be proud of one's own class or profession, no matter what other people might think at a first glance. We have useful talents, let us cultivate and employ them to the best of our abilities, for the common good.

    Jazz going to sleep causes Uta to stretch (in front of Atif) and yawn, the Japanese way, that is, without caring about putting a hand in front of your mouth. "I think we should all go to sleep now, yes... we have a long walk ahead of us when we wake up."
Jazuhanzu
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And, yes, Jazz will continue to make no comments on her own artistic skills, garbage scouts, or anything else directly unrelated to the task at hand. Because she is very much *not* a cat herder.

She's alreayd made it clear what they're here to do, after all. The next day is a lot like the first. It's a lot of walking through the dunes at night, with Jazz checking her map and then trying to keep abreast of where theya re in the desert, followed by more walking until the sun begins to crest. She is not terribly talkative, but then, this is hardly surprising.

It's been a day and a half before they crest a sand dune and look down over a bunch of rocky formations and actual glass formed from the heat. And there, admist all the glass and rocks, is a circular depression in the earth and sand. That's the mine. It looks like it spirals down into the earth, with an old, caqrved walkway down into the depression.
Atif
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    THankfully for everyone involved, Atif decided, pretty quickly,. to retreat to the land of sleep as well. Best not to linger on matters of garbage scouts or... other things.

    With the next day (night?) coming along, he's moving along eagerly enough -- though those who paid attention might have noticed that Fren Lzrd is, in fact, nowhere near as energetic and full of smiles when he's just woken up. A morning person, Atif is not.

    "Do you know how hot the air needs to be for sand to turn to glass?"

    The question is given when the group settles to the overlook leading to the mind, and Atif himself peers towards it - and the shards of glass littered across the sands - with a hand held over his brow to shade his eyes.

    "I don't actually know. But I imagine it has to be really, *really* hot. Like, unbearably hot. ... How hot do you think it is, now?"
Uta
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"The way I remember it, glass might form when you light a fire on the beach. I would rather not think about it, to be fair...", Uta shudders, "...how about we head straight in, grab what we need to grab and get out as quickly as we entered?" She thinks for a moment, then smiles. "...ah, mines! Earth's caveau, where it keeps the bulk of its precious met- Actually, no, scratch that. Mines are more like the tunnels thieves dig into the caveau to pull a heist and steal Earth's precious metals. One thing you gotta give to miners: any people who come up with the plain for a heist which involves a canary immediately wins my respect."

    "...Plus... I've never been in one, but there's hope that the inside of a mine is probably going to be cooler? Like a basement?"
Jazuhanzu
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"We're going to need to clear it. They said 'monsters', but were a bit mum on the sort and type when I pressed. It could be nothing or it might be way out of our level, or maybe it could be just a bunch of slimes for you to be friend," says Jazz, dryly, not really believing any of those are likely the case.

"I'm aware. The glass is unusual. Not sure what happened here. Fire elementals? Maybe?" She shrugs her shoulders, "Good thing I'm a Sea-Witch, huh?"

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

"...and good thing I have sturdy boots. Watch your step for broken glass, eh?"

The adventurers descend towards the mine in the distance, picking their way through rocky crags and cliffs. They find their way to the spiral working their way down into the mine, bit by bit, avoiding patches of shattered glass.

... right up until they reach the bottom, which is the entrance to the actual mine shaft....

... and there's a sound. A rippling, crinkling sound and, as they turn around to face it, it would appear that several creatures born of the shattered glass have risen up in their immediate viciting, their reflection cast back at them in the sheen of their humanoid torsos.
Uta
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    Uta would normally balk at the idea of fighting monsters far above her level, but once she's enticed with the prospect of maybe-slimes, all is forgotten and forgiven. Once the glass elementals approach, she flicks her menu open, materializes her staff, and gets ready to face the foes, staring at the torso of the approaching glass elemental-

    A frown.

    "...Hey! That's the girl from the menu!"
Atif
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    "...I for one am glad for my feet being one of the parts that have scales on them," murmurs the very much shoeless Atif. Though being a bit self-conscious of that fact does make him still walk along with a noticable carefulness in his step, eyes looking on down at the ground ahead of his steps. As confident as he is about the durability of his reptilian feet, he'd rather not test it by stepping on particularly spike-like shards of glass.

    "... I guess the temperature of the mine will depend on the depth," he suggests then. "Warmth travels up and all, but I worry the walls and any metals in them might also be heated up and turn the higher levels into an ove-- huh?"

    His attention is brought away from the mysterious sound behind them. First, a quick peek over his shoulder-- and then a hurried spin over around, with scaled fists brought up. "...Okay, I'm not sure if this is better or worse than having to deal with heat that turns sand to glass!"

    And Uta. Oh Uta. In spite of Atif's earlier difficulties in maintaining eye contact with her on account of her current outfit, her exclamation brings a wide-eyed look of bemusement to her.

    "That's a reflection!!"
Pela Clarpuff
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     Travel had... left Pela to fall mostly silent for the past few miles, keeping a general eye on things while seeming to be somehow... utterly non-existent at the same time. Just a very mild presence at the moment. It might be easy to forget that she's there for her party members, even. As they make their way into the mine, she equips her blades almost automatically.

     And just in time, there's... glass golems. Ah good. Something that bladed weapons is generally not all that useful for. Ah well, this is what being creative is for, and Pela has more than just blades after all. "...Speaking of temperature. Jazuhanzu, do you have the ability to cast ice magic? If you cast ice, I can heat it and we can cause heat shock and shatter them if they end up being aggressive." She murmurs, putting away one of her tanto to allow her to draw a scroll, which seems to float around her magically.
Jazuhanzu
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"..."

Jazz just sort of looks at the marginally distorted version of her oiwn reflection which (yes, still cute) obviously annoying her. The golems just get a raised eyebrow from her and she then tips her hat to one side. She queues up the magic when Uta's reaction reaches her. "What exactly are we reflecting on?" she asks Atif, innocently.

Then she fires a bolt of pure icy shards directly into one of the golems as it reaches to grab Uta by the hair.

Pela finds herself having another advancing on her, as does Atif.

There's five of them, all in all, meaning some of them are about to be very outnumbered.
Uta
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    "...and today she's wearing an Arabian dancer's outfit! Never seen her do that before -- although, hey, it makes sense for the location and weather." Pela gets a nod of approal. "Ice... I don't know if physics will work like in the real world, but it's worth a try. I mean, we have nothing else to go with. Might as well give a try."

    In reaction to Atif's exclamation, Uta looks over her shoulder for the elusive 'girl from the menu'. "Where's she? I've been wanting to meet her for a while and-EEEEEEK!"

    Uta is grabbed by the hair and /lifted up/, among piercing screams.

    That must hurt. Good thing for the pain dampening effect that probably makes it... at least survivable.

    Screaming, screeching and panicking, she thrusts her staff to hit the chest of the golem that grabbed her, aiming for the chest.
Atif
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    "U-.. Uta..." While Atif has certainly acknowledged that there's a glass golem figuratively descending upon him, UTa's antics have evidently caught up the majority of his attention. "I keep telling you, that's--LOOK OUT!"

    Of course his warning comes much too late to be able to prevent Uta being hoisted up by the air. There's a brief vision of panic on Atif's face, as a result, before he steps into action! "HEY! BAD! NO!" Cue the Red Lizard leaping up into the air, and flipping his weight into a somersault that leads into a high, spinning axe-kick. The weight of his leg is brought down with a furious force, trailed by an ephemereal red trail of fiery magic, smashing into and through the glass golem's offending arm.

    "Uta! You okay?!" He calls out to the spriggan right after, with his crouched landing on the ground... and having completely forgotten about the golem that was on an assault course to him in the first place, now horribly unaware of the two tree trunk -sized fists of glass raised up behind and above him.
Pela Clarpuff
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     Her own reflection is ... somewhat strange, but it's not like that really matters in the situation. No, the issue is telling who is really Pela's ally with the reflections, potentially. Still, her hand lifts towards the ice-targetted golem, incanting several quick words and pointing directly at the golem. Unleashing several darts of fire immediately after the ice impacts, she hopes that the two will combine well to cause the golem to shatter, rather than grab Uta's hair.

     Meanwhile, the golem advancing on Pela is... all but ignored until the last second, when she explodes into -- literally-- lightning-fast movement, leaving behind only the crackling energy where she once was. "I don't... like these." Pela comments off-handedly as she stops next to Atif and Uta. "...Let's stay close so those of us who are more... durable... can cover those less so." She glances to the side towards Uta and Jazuhanzu.
Jazuhanzu
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At the last minute, Jazz erects a quick bubble around herself, the glass golem that reached her smashing its fists into it over and over again, jagged knuckles leaving visible dents and cracks in the watery shield she's put around herself. She's doing her level best to protect herself, after all, and she's more or less succeeding. Kelp-like vines erupt from the cracks in the earth, grabbing at the golems, trying to bind and slow them down. It does, at least, briefly restrain the arm that has lifted Uta and prevents her from going even further, but it's not enough to stop the golem delivering a fist to Atif's back, given his general unawareness of it and distraction with Uta's... Utaness.

The reflections of the adventurer's in their chests are growing increasingly disorted, as the very ct of movement makes the glass compsoing their bodies shatter, shift, and reform over and over again.

It's jarring.

Also, there's now a whole *bunch* of Girls from the Menu for Uta's eyes.
Uta
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    The Golem had already grabbed Uta by the air, but Pela's intervention was successful in shattering its arm -- or at least, enough it to sever the forearm from the rest of the body, sending Uta to tumble away on the ground, with a red flash and a decrease on her HP bar on the first impact, and once she stop, leaving her dizzy, confused, and with a long ponytail and a tight glass scrunchie in the shape of a golem arm.

    She takes a moment to stand up and steady herself, her eyes dance around a bit but eventually focus on the scene. She takes it in.

    "...Wait a minute," she explains, as she appear to be smacked with a Club of Understanding +1. "The Girl From The Menu is... is not really here for me to meet... what's actually happening is..."

    Her eyes go wide, her jaw drops, and she pulls back in shock, pointing a trembling finger at each golem in turn.

    "...All the monsters are now showing the game mascot on them! This... this is too on the nose for my tastes. No subtlety." She sighs. "Typical corporate franchises, gotta ram the game's branding into the customer base. Like with how Pokemon keep repeating their name." Even if one is not familiar with videogames, you /really/ have to have been living under a rock not to be at least aware of that phenomenon. "But, hey, I guess they exist to make a profit, not to write the next great Japanese novel...", she concedes.

    A frown. "Fine, if I recall correctly, apart from thermal shock, another thing that really breaks glass is a lot of force focused into a really small spot. Like those hammers to break glass in case of emergency, they all end up in a point of sorts."

    She glances back at the others. "I'm not really durable, to be honest, but I'm what people call "support" and "melee fighter", so... I think I'm going to get up close, hit hard, get out fast. Be ready to intervene if I need it..."

    And that said, she flips her staff, bottom-first (that'd be where the tip is), and rushes for a few glass golems, ready to practice some of her Musical Kung-Fu. If all hits strike true, she'll get nice glass bell sounds that form a melody out of it.
Atif
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    "...Uta..." Atif sighs out while he straightens up from his crouch. "We're going to have to have a talk lat-"

    *BONK*

    As if specifically with the intent of stopping his bemused address of the Spriggan, Atif does, indeed, get smacked right upside his head by a jagged-knuckled glass fist. THe impact is actually forceful enough to send his weight tipping over with such momentum that his feet are flipped up off the ground, too.

    The instant they do, though, a burst of flames explodes from the Salamander's reptilian feet-- potentially sending a gout of heat damage back at the glass golem, but primarily working to launch him off forward and away from the adversary. Even if the end result is him skidding face-first along the sand.

    "Pbhbthbtht!" Having ended up prone right by everyone else's feet, Atif snaps his face up from the ground with a spittling of sand, eyes briefly spinning. "I'm okay! I'm okay!" And without letting himself lose any further stride, he's bounced up onto his feet in a split second.

    "I don't have any ranged options," he declares, sheepishly, keeping his back to Jazz and Pela for the moment after getting his bearings back. "...And I guess I'm the sturdiest of the lot here. Um. I'll do my best to be the buffer between you and them."

    Nevermind that he already lost a nice bit of hp to the BONK.
Pela Clarpuff
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     "What no I meant..." Pela sighs lightly, before shaking her head. "...I'm a sturdy one. Atif is a sturdy one. I might not look like it but I'm wearing heavy chainmail armor." ...Under her maid outfit, that is. Purchased from landers, so it's stats aren't... amazing, but it does count as medium/heavy armor!

     Meanwhile, she seems to be settling into her 'tank' role of the all-rounder class she made herself. She won't be as good as a REAL tank, but at the very least she can take a few hits. She takes a deep breath, closing her eyes to activate Arcane Eye. Relying on the 'third eye' on her forehead to tell her who is friend or foe rather than her own eyes, with the madness of the glass around them. Once she has a reasonable idea of her targets and ally's statuses...

     She gets about doing what she does best. Surviving. In that she runs away! Towards the enemies! She flashes a grin towards her allies, and then... starts to do a DPS spike, rapidly activating two of her sword artes to draw as much aggro towards herself and away from the rest of the party! Those two sword artes?

     Gale of Swords and Piercing Strike. She intersperces the two, slashing once towards one golem, then stabbing at a second one in the leg with a piercing strike! She .... actually leaves the blade in there for a moment too, as she moves to slash the first golem again, aiming for whatever passes for a joint in its legs! A quick movement rips the blade left in the second golem's leg out, to bring herself spinning back towards the first golem and strike its other leg!

     ... Drawing Aggro has a downside though. It draws aggro. "Atif!" She shouts out, shifting into a defensive stance. Of course, her defenses are all on cooldown right now, used up by the action points of her other attacks.

     Well... she's probably done some damage! Now to save her from her own damage!

     Also she adds, "Uta. That girl is--" SCREECHYCRACKYGLASSNOISES "-- Not the girl from the menu!"
Jazuhanzu
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The first golem that grabbed Uta stands there, its arm shattered and losing its grip on her, for obvious reasons. It would appear that, while these things are magically creatures formed from the glass of the desert sands, they are also not terribly durable. This probably won't come as a shock given that they are, you know... made... of glass. What's worse for Uta that as all these pieces of glass fly off it, she is surrounded by ever more instances of the girl from the menu! How gauche! Now missing an arm, the goem steps as it raises its hand as if to catch the light of the twin moons, a beam of energy roaring off it hand towards the medical monk.

Atif, having been bonked, finds out the hard way that actual contact with these things is worse. On his status bar, he finds that he's now got a 'glass slivers' debuff that's doing bleeding damage.

The slivers are definitely in his feet where he cracked it, now, and while he badly damaged the thing from the impact just because it's fragile, he's paying a price for it. It steps forward to redouble its attacks, razor sharp glass spikes flowing into being along its arms and in its hadns as it seeks his end.

The other two have turned their attention to Pela, now, as their hit points take consider able damage. Like Uta's, they open fire with energy rays this time. Their cast bar, of course, reads 'glass cannon' for the attack.

Meanwhile, Jazz's vines are at least doing a reasonable job of holding them back, slowing them down, and gumming up the works. Thorns versus glass doesn't really do a whole lot, but the kelpy vines look deeply out of place here in the desert to begin with even as they do the trick. "Ugh, I don't like these things," says the Undine, her voice twee as ever even as she swears under her breath a handfgul of times. She take s moment to concentrate, a swirling disc of water being hurled like a buzz-saw blde directly at one of them from the side. It zips through it, damaging it and adding additional cracks into the golem that's wounded Atif, leaving it well set up for a final, devestating blow from him if he can manage it without wrecking his own HP in the process.
Uta
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

    "SAND TASTES LIKE SAND, RIGHT?!", Uta bursts out in a rare moment of annoyance, as her twirling staff deflects glass shrads in all directions. "I know, I was /there/!" Three, two, one shrads left... staff-block, martial arts guard pose engaged. Annoyance at the branding of projectiles. Seriously?! "Why couldn't it taste like soggy crackers? Noooo. It had to taste like- Wait, maybe it counts as an ingredient? Who... who would cook things out of /sand/?! What do you even /get/ by cooking sand?"

    She turns to look at the golems. "Oh."

    She blinks.

    She seems to notice something. She turns her head to one side. Slow, at first. Then she snaps to look to the other side. A pause. She shakes her head, left and right, apparently to assess the newly added weight behind it, holding her hair together. This suspicion is confirmed when she reaches for the severed golem limb behind her head, pushes it as far as she manages into her field of view, grimacing when it is pushed as far as it reaches, and at that point, sticking her tongue out towards it, and-

    Is she trying to... lick the glass forearm?

    Good thing she fails and gives up with a sigh shortly after.

    "Aw, man. I won't be able to tell if this is natural or menu-crafted. The curiosity is going to kill m-"

    "..."

    "Folks," she asks, addressing the rest of the gang as if they were not currently in the middle of a golem attack. "Can anyone help me here and lick this-"

    Blink.

    "Atif, you have rocket feet! Like Astroboy! Can you fly?"

    And then she seems to realize something else.

    "...Pela! Have you tried licking or munching on your lander-made chainmail? I'm collecting data for a little research of mine and- wait, what do you mean she's not the girl on the menu? She's right here!", says Uta, going through the flicking motions to pull up the relevant entry. "See? She's used as an example dummy to show... I don't know? What I am equipping?"

    She frowns, apparently completely oblivious to the beam shooting her way. "Wait, I'm pretty sure I'm not equipping a dancer girl's uniform! I must have found a bug-"

    *FLASH*

    With surprising last-minute reflexes, her staff is shoved right where the beam was about to hit, hopefully absorbing the energy directed its way and draining it enough to make it ineffective.

    "Oh no, no you don't!", she exclaims, and begins chanting a dark, ominous tune; tendrils of darkness, black and purple, seep out from her, like wisps of smoke, enveloping her, growing into a sphere that surrounds her whole body, while the end of her staff sucks it back in, again, in wisps, the darkness rising from the tip like mercury on an old-fashioned thermometer, eventually impacting against the light energy coming from the other side and annihilating in a bubbling, sizzling chiaroscuro turmoil.

    "Do not annoy me," growls the dark, chilling Uta-shaped silhouette that stands in place of the usually cheerful Musical Kung-Fu Nurse was a few moments ago. People that stand really close can even notice a temperature drop.

    And as the oppressive crescendo of her chanting reaches a powerful finale, FWOOOSH, the entierety of the dark energy is shot towards the beaming golem in a burst which progressively depletes the bubble, lasting as long as the powerful last note, revealing Uta's original appearance as the last layers are peeled away.
Atif
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


    "H-..hey, uh...?"

    Between Uta's increased level of... well, Uta-ness, and the actually foreboding effects of dark magic forming about her silhouette *and* her actually vaguely-menacing act towards the end, Atif looks... well. The Fren Lzrd has been done a concern.

    "Should we like... be worried...?" He mumbles, in askance of Pela and Jazz.

    It all actually distracts him enough that he doesn't notice the long, red marks running in lines along his right foot and the top of his head. Or the bleeding effect slowly chipping away at tiny numbers of his HP bar.

    But! Pela calls out his name, and in an instant, he's a blur of motion.

    Just a second after her tagging him in, he suddenly appears flipping through the air over her head, spinning with a red trail of fire along one foot. "I'm here!" He announces, as if he would need to assure anyone of the fact with all the ensuing pyrotechnics of the trailing fire suddenly exploding above him, launching him back down towards the ground.

    "TREMBLE!"

    The landing comes with a deliberate slam of one foot against the sandy ground, and with an echoing sound of a *BOOM*, the ground actually queakes briefly. Not enough to toss anyone over, but perhaps enough to at least cause some wobbling.

    Legs briefly bent with the landing, the Salamander bounces right back up again, to face the golem who got him by surprise earlier. And was close enough to continue it's advance even with the sudden channeling of Tremble Step. And had a wide spiderweb of cracks formed over it's front courtesy of Jazz.

    "Yosh--!" Mid-bounce, his right hand is clenched into a tight fist that immediately bursts into flames. The downward momentum after the bounce is met with feet kicking into the ground to launch him straight for the golem. And to that fiery fist in a furious Bruce Lee -innspired punch straight for those cracks. "FEEL THE HEAT!"

    Fist shatters through the weakened glass, sinking effectively one half of his whole arm inside of the golem before the fire in his fist explodes from within, causing a chain effect that ultimately shatters the entirety of the golem's torso.

    And leavers his whole arm marked with slivers of red brighter than his scales.

    This doesn't stop him from getting back into motion again, bouncing sideways and sending himself into a roll along the ground that leaves a trail of flames behind him -- and springs up again right in between Pela and the two beams of energy aimed for her.

    The only shield Atif has to offer is his two arms, getting crossed over each other in front of him just as the beams sear into him. The... actual defensive potential of that maneuver is... shall we say, limited. So everyone gets prime seats to the sight of a major chunk of his hp getting burned away as a result.

    "--Hhhh." He still stands afterwards, at least. Even if his body is left steaming as a result.

    "Don't worry," he calls back over his shoulder, with a tone that, in spite of everything, is still cheerful and optimistic. "I won't let them through!" With that, he pounces forward again, tail and scarf both trailing behind him on the way to assault the two golems with a series of punches and kicks. Each one adding another sliver on him, and another piece chinked off of his hp.

    There... might be a major flaw in Atif's tanking strategy.
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


     'Glass Cannon', that doesn't sound like a fun attack name, that's for sure. Pela shifts into as much of a defensive stance as she can, moving to try to dodge! But without any skills, it's pretty much a done deal that she gets blasted by those rays of light! Luckily Atif is there to take some of the brunt of it, as Pela is set up as a 'jack of all trades'... she CAN tank, but she's definitely not the best, as her somewhat reduced health bar can attest to! Even with Atif's tanking, even!

     Pela exhales slowly, the red marks on her body looking like red hot burns for the few moments before they fade. She glances towards Uta, "I haven't, please don't try to eat my chain mail." Pela responds as she begins to prepare herself. Okay.

     These things don't have guts, but this is still a game system right? She reaches a hand up, creating a Third Eye in the middle of her forehead that glows with arcane energy. She quickly attempts to examine the two golems, looking for their cores or weak points. Once she's satisfied with her examination, she jumps in. Much like Atif, she's ... going for the weakened areas.

     Once again, she's making use of those wakizashi to dart in and stab at the 'heart' of the golems... or well... their weak points, doing several rapid, focused stabs at one injured part, which is finally followed up with a pair of deep stabs, which are torn out roughly! Which... inexplicably would leave the lingering red lines of the 'bleed' status. On mirrors. Look don't question it it's a game.

     "I don't think we have to worry much about Uta. She's on our side!" ... "Though, uh, keep her safe!" Pela adds as she jumps away from her golem, shifting into an aggressive stance. Good, they've got two tanks that tank with their faces rather than defenses. Isn't that just great for party health and safety?
Jazuhanzu
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

With the focus off Jazz's bubble, for the time being, she's able to start doing other things than re-bubble herself and cast lighting. Instead, she gets a glimps of what Pela is doing qand quickly throws a damagqe buff her way, granting her the 'crushing strength of the deep ocean' or something. At least, that's what she activaqtes the skill. "Darkest Ocean Depths, gift her with your crushing embrace!"

Thusly armed, Pela *explodes* a golem. Shatters its already damaged form!

... problem, of course, is that these things *explode into shards of glass* that leavqe more DoTs in their wake and make the terrain even more hazardous, but hey, beggars can't be choosers.

She's left staring at Uta, however, just staring. Staaaaaaaaaaaaaare.

There's a look of bafflement on her face for a long moment before she says, "...can we keep this Uta around?" she asks, innocently.

In the meantime, Atif's actions produce a similar result in destroying a second golem, and Uta's a third.

There is but one left.

...which then activates 'Reformation Protocol'.

....glass from the ground and all around begins to tremble, picking up and pulling towards it, crashing in its form. It's abosrobing the fallen fragments of the other golems. Oh gods, this wasn't even its final form!
Uta
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

    "O- Of course I won't try to eat your chainmail, Pela!", exclaims an Uta who seems to have gotten redder in the face. "You're still wearing it!"

    The trembling ground speeds up the sheedding of the latest vestiges of darkness. Regular Uta is now all that's left. Her acrobatic skills allow her to leap and bound around, minimizing contact with the ground while it trembles as an effect of Atif's technique. "ATIF, NO! Those things are going to-"

    There goes a good chunk of Fren Lzrd's HP BAR.

    And there goes the Golem, and there comes the associated explosion. Shrads fly around, but some more expert twirling of her staff are enough to deflect most of the shrads.

    "...I would hope I get to be kept around?", says Uta, unaware of what Jazz meant.

    A quick inspection of her party is enough to make her wince at all the damage. "Folks, this won't do... stand still, I'm going to try a group heal."

    The singing starts, a melodious, soothing aria able to restore hope and energy into the most desperate of hearts, with wisps of light resonating away from her staff, heading towards-

    The shriek that follows can still be counted as, well, a shriek, but it feels a lot like a record scratch.

    Technically, the golem arm Uta is wearing as a scrunchie is a golem part, so the chant is rudely interrupted by said arm getting pulled towards the main golem, /hard/, with our healer being dragged towards the main golem, hair-first, like some sort of stereotypical cavewoman from humorous cartoons.

    "HELP!"
Atif
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


    In spite of being covered in red streaks of damage marks and missing a good chunk of his HP, Atif doesn't seem to lose his determined streak.

    He does, however, pause with confusion upon the sight and sound of all the spread out, shattered pieces of glass start vibrating and-- Moving?!

    Confusion turns to worry when he catches on to just what exactly is happening with them -- and with Uta getting unfortunately dragged along towards the Boss-To-Be.

    "Uta--!" The Salamander calls out, and immediately sets on a run towards the Spriggan. But then? Then something clicks inside his head.

    And the memory of Pela talking about heat shock flashes through his eyes.

    "--Pela! Cut Uta's hair quick quick quick quick!" He yells over to the Cait Sith as he suddenly diverts his path of motion from Uta to the sole golem remaining. "JAZZ! Make it as cold as you can!"

    Flames explode at Atif's right foot to give him a bit more momentum to launch himself right at the golem, fist-first. Scaled knuckles slam into the center of the glass-built torso while the Salamander's other arm and both legs wrap around to keep himself latched on. That one fist keeps pummeling into the same point with the intent to, of all things, get his fist lodged right into the golem, much like it had into a different one not moments ago.

    While glass shards still magnetize themselves towards this particular golem. And the Salamander latched onto it.

    Atif does visibly wince with the glass starting to cut into him and cover him up, eating into his HP Bar. Of course the fist he's trying to drill into the golem is steadily getting covered in further damage marks, too, so that doesn't exactly help matters.

    "Ow ow ow oh god please hurry!"

    There... there must have been a better way than this.
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


     Pela got a buff! Yes~! It was all tingly and pleasant to be honest. She also, suddenly, is VERY happy that she jumped back and away. Because it means she takes a bit less of the unavoidable boss AoE attack. She gives a slight 'tch' as several shards dart past her or try to go through her. Luckily she had her armor but it still was chipping away at her health bar. Still, she survived it! That matters!

     "Thank you for the buff!" She calls towards Jazuhanzu. "Okay so there were a few obvious weak points on the smaller ones!" She calls out, pointing out several of the weakpoint locations mentioned, as she activates her Strategize ability. She then steps forward, running her Wakizashi together to create sparks as she stares up at the golem. "COME ON! LET'S GO!" She shouts at the golem, as her heart begins to beat faster, the edges of her body beginning to seemingly... jitter and vibrate as she activates Sonic Acceleration, beginning to dance around the giant golem, doing... regular auto attacks as she darts around?

     Until she's told to cut Uta's hair. And she gives a soft exhale, luckily she was already going pretty fast due to the Sonic Accelleration, otherwise she probably would have not made it in time ... but then... she might have gotten some aggro. And now she's by Uta. Moving to cut her hair and free the glass from her hair. Which is ... a bad idea. Head cuts very bad! "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry!" She calls out as she does!
Jazuhanzu
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

"OH FOR CRAP'S SAKE, UTA!"

Still, the shriek aqt the end does something interesting. Once Uta shrieks, a single crack appears in the center of the golem's shard-encrusted chest.

A flashing weak point to Pela's eyes now exists! Hey, it must be vulnerable to sonic attacks, right? It's GLASS. Having an idea of what Atif is asking for, Jazz draws the feather duster once more and points it directly at the glass golem, calling out in her adorably, twee voice, "Let the icy depths of the blackest ocean strike you down.. or something!"

She raises her hand and then brings it down, driving icy shards of ice down into the golem from the sky.

The golem raises Uta up as Pela comes for it, intending to bodily use her to bludgeon the other Maid before her sword mercifully cuts Uta hair, leaving the golem only holding a good chunk of it. The momentum, unfortuntely, sends Uta hurtling into Pela all together.
Uta
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

    The Uta-shaped projectile imact against Pela. Never in the history of this mine such an amount of friendly fire has probably been witnessed since the Apocalypse.

    After the impact, there is a tumble, a rumble, and a rolling to a stop, into a Pela-pile.

    "...I feel light-headed..." Uta mumbles, lying on her back.

    "...where is she...", she mumbles, as she looks around frantically, failing to notice that the minute catgirl happens to be laying prone across her belly, drawing a '+' figure of sorts if looked at from above.

    Uta staggers to her feet, barely noticing the minute catgirl maid rolling off her as she does so. "Must... fight... Golem..." and stumbles closer to the boss enemy. "Must...avenenge... Pela..."

    And freezes in her tracks as she is faced with the gargantuan monster of glass.

    She points at the beast's chest.

    "...hey, who's that girl? I've never seen that one before."

    It's incredible how a change of hairstyle can make one look completely different!
Atif
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


    The crack created by the hypersonic screaming forms right under Atif's pummeling fist! And when his fist slams in, it shatters chunks of glass off to clear the way for his fist to painfully (for Atif) to sink into the center of the golem.

    The glass continues to rapidly gather on the golem, though, and by proxy, the Salamander draped onto it. More cuts eat at Atif's hp, even as he's getting covered up by the gathering glass, and... encases him into the growing golem itself.

    For just a few seconds, it looks as if though the lizard has been effectively imprisoned into the golem, partially frozen as it might be courtesy of Jazuhanzu's assault of ice shards.

    But theres a flicker inside. A light that illuminates the glass forming the golem from the inside.

    RAGNAROK'S WISDOM

    Fire bursts within, and the intense heat briefly colors the glass itself a fierce orange before the catastrophic heat shock takes hold and...

    An explosion of fire and glass overtakes the entire golem, shards of glass sent violently flying outwards from the vaguely salamander-shaped flame in the center. With the golem's internally-induced annihilation, the flame recedes shortly afterwards as Atif lands on his feet on the ground, even his red hair briefly appearing as though it were a wreath of flames covering his head before the vision of flames fades away entirely.

    "...Hhh." Atif turns around, slowly, covered in a positively *obscene* amount of damage markers, with steam drifting up from his body, flashing a smile to the others that somehow still manages to be all-too-sunny and energetic. "You guys okay?"

    He takes just a single step forward before he already stumbles in place, body swaying. "...oh I don't feel so--"

    The HP Bar that appears over his head is colored a decisively fierce red, and continues to flash rapidly in warning. While the Salamander himself falls over, landing face-first into the sand.
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


     Oh good, she saved Uta! She... saved... uta... who was dangling. And now Pela is below her. And Uta is falling. There is a moment as Pela is just staring up at Uta, and one can almost see the rapidly approaching form of Uta coming right for her face. "...Oh no." Is all she gets out, before she's tumbling around with Uta on the ground! ... And... ends up on top of Uta, thankfully. And then Uta somehow manages not to spot the person. Laying on top of her. Who is still somewhat stunned from the fall.

     Avenge Pela??? Pela looks down at herself. Then at her health bar. No, still in the yellow... though she did take a chunk of damage from cushioning Uta's fall. And then... is.... is the golem glowing? Is that an att... no. No that's fire. And a lizard-shaped form... in the middle?! "..." She opens her mouth. Closes it. And then sees the explosion start. She does the absolute most important thing anyone can do in her situtation: She curls up, covers her head, and provides the smallest target possible for the shards of molten glass being sent everywhere.
Jazuhanzu
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

"OCean's storms, protect!" Jazz yells instinctively, throwing her hands up. A wall of wind bursts into being in front of her, ablating the momentum of the glass shards coming towards when she gets an idea of what's about toi happen. It has the added benefit of protecting Pela as well, given the locaqtion, but Uta may be out of her reach.

Jazz is fairly confident Uta will find a way to be fine.

She's Uta.

Still, she's left panting from the battle, doubling over and clutching her knees for a moment before Atif collapses and she just sighs. "....I *hate* thorn damage."
Uta
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

    Uta's way to be fine consists in being enthralled by her reflection.

    Until, that is, realization hits.

    "Wait a minute! Does that mean that-"

    She flicks her menu open and navigates it, with the determination of someone who has a solid theory and is more looking for confirmation than to resolve a doubt.

    "...I KNEW IT! They changed the game mascot! Wow, we happened to be in the middle of the battle while they were doing that. Is it a seasonal thing? I mean, she has shorter hair, probably because, you know, spring, and warmer weather- Atif? Atif, what are you doing? No, Atif, don't set yourself on fire, that's bad for the carbon footprint-"

    A gale of glass devastates Uta, leaving marks and scorches and causing her to cross her arms and turn her head away, and shriek in a way that shatters the glass, making the bits /even smaller and sharper/ and thus more dangerous...

    ...and finally there she is, also with her HP firmly in the red. "...wait, no, I was supposed to twirl the staff to repel... the... shrads..."

    She turns to look at the rest of the team. She notices Pela, and that brings a smile to her face. "Pela! You... you..." She musters all of her energy to complete the sentence, "...By Giganpor's Hammer, you have been avenged!"

    At that, she falls face-first. Her whole front part flashes red as she impacts. The red slashes where she was shivved by the vitreous shrads still persist, probably to signify bleeding. Despite this, she remains unmoving.

    "...Is there a healer in the party?"
Atif
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


    As for Atif? He... WEll. The Salamander's left laying prone on the ground. Completely motionless. But, hey, the hp bar over his head at least is still blinking, rather than having disappeared entirely (and leaving him to exploding into pixels for that matter).

    THere's a vague, pained sound muffled agains the sand, though, before he turns his head. Just enough to let one green eye weakly peer towards Uta, right when she presents that question.

    "...Sure... hhhh... I can't... move though..."
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


     Oh good, luckily for Pela she was Protected by Jazuhanzu! Which ... well. Again. Is good. Because Pela doesn't have any shielding type spells, only evasive types for defense which aren't great for AoE attacks! ...And apparently she's been avenged by Uta, too. She uncurls finally, standing up and squinting at Uta. "...You are the healer. Also you are the one that almost KO'd me!" Pela says, huffing a little! Huff huff! "Also that reflection was-- ATIF!" She pauses, noticing the almost-KO'd lizard mid-sentence.

     She quickly zips over towards the lizard, pulling out a small jar. Inside is... is it some sort of jelly? Yep. It's Itadori Jelly! Which she takes a spoonful of and stuffs it in Atif's mouth. "Here, this will reduce the pain." Also heal him for like 2 hitpoints over the course of ten seconds, but that part is basically negligable compared to the pain killing affect. Also it tastes pretty okay too! Nothing special, but it /is/ a jelly. Which is weird without bread or anything but you know. Use what you have on you.
Jazuhanzu
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

Jazz is very much not a healer. Instead, she slumps to the ground and drops back to stare up at the stars, hair splayed out around her.

"Well, we're not dead. That's a plus," she manages to mumble after a moment. While her hit points didn't take much damaqge due to her own capable defenses, thatq does not mean she's not fatigued. "Uta, we kind of you need you to, you know, do the healy thing," she manages to say.

Meanwhile, shattered glass LITTERS the area round them, making an already treacherous path more treacherous.

Great.
Uta
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

    Uta mumbles, "Atif got turned into a girl? Ouch. That was some nasty attack magic these golems had going on. Good thing it didn't happen to me, I don't know how I would have lived with myself otherwise," as, prompted by Jazz's words, she plants her staff on the ground, with the associated shattering sound as she displaces some glass, and presses her instrument down to try and leverage herself into standing.

    Her legs tremble, and her standing up is reminescent of a newborn calf, or deer. Eventually, she succeeds. "A... alright people, here comes the medicine." She wobbles, her eyes diverge out of focus, she blinks, and focuses again. "...I wonder if it tastes like chicken soup...", she mumbles to herself, probably too quiet for the others to hear.

    The melody from earlier starts again, solemn, yet sweet and soothing. Tendrils of light magic depart from the gem in her staff, and dance their way towards each party member, Uta included, interwining with the music and restoring vigor.
Atif
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


    "...hhh?" Atif manages to lift his head just about enough to look up to Pela with a bleary blink. "...what are you d-MMPHH!" Words interrupted by sudden shoving of jelly in mauf. Eyes widened up stare at the cait sith shoving the spoon in his mouth right before he swallows. Well, at least the jello helps regardless, but it doesn't help the look of utter shock on his face (and the bit of embarrassed blushing from being effectively forcefed).

    When the resident Musical Nurse finally gets to work, he manages to shift himself along the sands to something resembling a more comfortable posture, though he's clearly in no hurry to get all the way up yet. He sends a curious look at Uta, herself, and then murmurs quietly to Pela, "... Should we even tell her, at this point...?"
Pela Clarpuff
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0


     Oh good a ton of glass litters the area, which... Pela equips a broom! And starts to sweep up into a nice pile while Uta begins her healing spell. "...No. Not really. No curse. I just... .... you're good Uta. Yep. You're good." She nods to herself. And then nods towards Atif. "...Definitely shouldn't even tell her." She comments.

     Once she's gathered up the glass into a decent pile of glass, she begins to carefully pick out several larger pieces to stick in her inventory for later use. "...Okay, so... copper. Let's start looking for the copper.... or wait were we letting miners mine the copper after we cleared out the mine?" She muses to herself. "...Too tired to care." She mumbles.
Jazuhanzu
Overworld - -51 - -3 - 0

... after a time, when one has had time to recover, all that's left to do is to set out back down the pathway to the mine. Glass crunches under foot and the foursome finds itself approaching the maw of the mine proper.

Jazz seems relieved. AFter the horrible fight with the glass elementals, anything else would be easy, right? Progressing into the old copper mine, long abandoned by the Lander peoples of Westland, leads to a whole lot of exhausted exploration and mapping so as not to get lost in the cavernous depths.

"Whew. Glad there's nothing down here..."

Which, of course, Jazz should never have said. Because just as soon as the words slips out of her mouth, *that's* when ravenous swarm of hungry lurking spiders begins to swarm out. Different continent, same spider-swarm-duties...